Privacy Updates, Data Sharing and How Advertisers Can Adapt – Part 2

Advertising techniques and strategies have evolved since the foundation of modern advertising in the 1920s. As televisions and computers became accessible to almost every American, advertisers capitalized on the technology to reach large numbers of targeted audiences. Now, tools used for targeting online audiences may be disappearing and advertisers and businesses need to adapt.

For small businesses like most summer camps, this comes as a hard hit. Facebook and Google Ads are affordable and effective ways to target a few potential clients amongst the billions of other internet users. But there are ways to work around tracker blocking and Firefox’s Facebook container to continue reaching your audience.

1. Email list retargeting will become more crucial with current and potential customers. Segment your email list so that you can send emails with specific messaging to specific clients. Someone who has sent their child to camp for the last 3 summers does not need the same message as someone who enrolled 3 summers ago but not since. It is extra work and requires more content production, but is necessary in the face of data restrictions.
2. Cultivate strategic partnerships with blogs or companies willing to sell ad space directly on their websites. Even if someone has an AdBlocker turned on, it cannot block an ad that is natively on a website. Choose which companies or blogs are most related to your camp and reach out.
3. Continue targeting audiences through Instagram. Firefox’s Facebook container cannot stop Facebook from sharing data across sites it owns. This means that Instagram can still target a potential client with your ad if they looked at a competitor’s Facebook page. Additionally, fewer people disable tracking on mobile devices, so there is a higher likelihood of someone seeing a targeted ad.
4. Create more varied ads. According to a survey by eMarketer, 7 in 10 respondents agreed that they often saw the same ad over and over again, while more than half said they frequently saw ads for products they had already purchased. Many people install AdBlockers because they are annoyed with ads. Rework ads to keep them fresh and solve the root of the problem.
5. Podcasts, audio ads, social influencers, and in-app engagement ads are safe from ad blockers. These are good ways to get in front of people even though you may not have all the tracking you are used to. These mediums may not have as wide a reach as Facebook or Google Ads, but they are exempt from both AdBlocker and Tracking prevention (for now).
6. Keep the format of ads light to ensure it is not interfering (too much) with the loading speed of the page. Ads that take up too much bandwidth can be blocked by Google’s AdBlocker. Slow loading times for pages is another reason people turn on AdBlockers so again, a light ad is getting to the root of the problem.
7. Focus on mobile advertising. Optimize ads for mobile viewing because fewer people have tracking protection and ad blockers on their mobile devices. Analyze how people engage with content on their phones or tablets and make content that works with the format.
8. Incentivize online referrals. A referral from someone you know is more engaging and persuasive than an ad from a business you don’t know. Incentivize people to promote your camp or page content with small discounts or raffle drawings. This can get your brand in front of people whether they have data privacy protections or not.
9. Use Search Engine Optimization to help your site appear higher in organic search results. Relevant Keywords help determine the order which ads appear when search results load. Similarly, keywords within your website help determine the order which organic search results appear. Evaluate a few words that are particularly relevant on each page of your site and repeat them (no more than 3 times each).

Consumer data is incredibly valuable and has been made relatively accessible for the last decade for online advertisers. However, the landscape of the internet and privacy restrictions are changing and we must adapt.